At the close of a challenging week for Muslim-Americans in the community and in the country, the solemn strains of Friday prayer service at the Islamic Center in West Chester echoed with profound resonance Friday.

As a diverse crowd of Greater Cincinnatians bowed and prayed, a young student from Miami University held a sign at the entrance to the parking lot for all to see.

It brought goose bumps to the skin of Amr Wafa, who said it was “kind of confirming the message that all Americans should love one another."

While several local Americans of Muslim faith said they have not experienced any negative reactions from others in the aftermath of last Friday’s attacks in Paris, there were others who felt non-Muslims should reflect on the hateful rhetoric that has surfaced on the Internet and, they said, on the Presidential campaign trail.

"To be honest, it's getting a little bit scary for us,” Tui Gouda, a native of Egypt, who has been in the Cincinnati area 43 years, said.

He and others said profiling is getting worse.

The guest speaker at the Islamic Center Friday condemned every atrocity across the globe

“It is not faith that teaches this hatred,” he said.

Local Muslims, like Ahmed Obeidat, a physician, said they’ve embraced the community as their own.

"(We’re) really happy, we love it here. We think we're living here for life,” Obeidat said.

Shakila Ahmad, president of the Islamic Center Board, indicated how appreciative she and other local Muslim leaders are of Mayor John Cranley's efforts to walk back his initial wording about the Syrian refugee program.

At the same time, they are highly critical of candidates like Donald Trump and half the nation's governors who have called for a halt to the program.

"These politicians are creating a fear psychosis,” Azhar Azeez, president of the Islamic Society of North America, said.

Azeez is in Cincinnati for a weekend conference on community and family, and to make some timely points about the many Muslim victims of the Islamic State group.

"They are leaving their land because they are being tortured and being persecuted,” Azeez said. “Who would have thought that Steve Jobs was the son of a Syrian refugee?"

From a time of a different humanitarian crisis, he dusted off the famous words of President Franklin Roosevelt about how there’s nothing to fear but the fear itself, suggesting it is applicable to what America is experiencing now in 2015.

Trust the vetting process, he implored, and pray that everyone starts to see the similarities that bind people together, regardless of faith.

Those common connections were evident in the sunlit parking lot following the prayer service as Samir Mansy, a friend of Tui Gouda, ribbed his friend, proudly stating that he’s a Michigan State graduate. Gouda made sure everyone understood that he’s an Ohio State grad.

"We are rivals, we are rivals,” laughed Mansy, both as Muslims who came to America from Egypt.

Mansy and Gouda will be cheering with the rest of the college football world during Saturday’s big game in Columbus.

It was a lighthearted moment at the end of a difficult week of experiencing shock, dealing with uncertainty and overcoming fear.

As they cheer on Saturday, both said they’ll also be rooting for a more enlightened future.